Girard "Jerry" Keil won awards as a special-agent supervisor in the FBI's Seattle office.

He
taught marksmanship and defensive tactics and later did similar work
for Paccar, setting up a security plan for the firm's offices
nationwide.

It seemed like an about-face when he retired in 1982
to help his wife, Joan MacDonald Keil, republish her mother Betty
MacDonald's "Nancy and Plum" book about a pair of orphaned sisters.

But the task drew on skills he sharpened in the FBI: talking to a variety of people and getting them to do the right thing.

Mr. Keil died Saturday (April 22) of cancer. He was 77.

"He
was meticulous, and liked to talk and be in charge," said his son
Timothy Keil of Whidbey Island. "He enjoyed that discipline. He kept
busy promoting the books and took it upon himself to answer every letter
from every kid who enjoyed the books."

First he became Joan
MacDonald Keil's adviser as she lobbied publishers to reprint the
out-of-print "Nancy and Plum." When publishers rejected the reissue, Mr.
Keil and his wife, whom he wed 50 years ago, printed and distributed
the book themselves.

Later they saw MacDonald's "The Egg and I" book reissued.

Born
in Royal Oak, Mich., he graduated from high school in Decatur, Mich. He
was class president and played basketball and tennis.

He also
was class president at James Milligan University in Decatur, where he
earned a degree in business administration before becoming a navigator
in the Army Air Forces during World War II.

He became an FBI agent based in Seattle in 1947. He also helped found the Northwest Forum business club.

From 1978 to 1982 he directed security for Paccar.

He then became vice president of Joan Keil Enterprises, his wife's book-promotion firm.

One
of his recent joys was sitting on a bench in Kirkland's Marina Park and
chatting with people. His family will dedicate a new bench to him and
to his daughter Rebecca Keil, who died in 1998.

Surviving besides
his wife and son are children Toby Keil of Thousand Oaks, Calif., and
Heidi Richards of Bellevue; brothers Otto Keil of Pennsylvania and Edwin
Keil of Spokane; and seven grandchildren.

Services will be at 5 p.m. Saturday at First Congregational Church, 752 108th Ave. N.E., Bellevue.

Timothy Keil, 61, was killed in a head-on collision on
South Whidbey Saturday. The accident occurred in the evening on Highway
525 near the intersection of Coles Road. Keil was pronounced dead at the
scene.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Jo, children and grandchildren.

“It’s just a terrible tragedy,” said Pastor Jim Lindus, of Trinity Lutheran Church. “We have a community that’s heartbroken.”

Keil retired about 15 months ago from a career with the
City of Bothell. A member of Trinity’s congregation, he was getting into
a new rhythm of life, spending time with family and volunteering with
the church, Lindus said.

He was especially active with His Hands Extended program,
which works to feed and cloth Seattle’s homeless twice a month. He was a
dedicated supporter and volunteer for the charity, according to Lindus.

“He was a great guy,” he said. “He had a soft and tender heart.”

“I just can’t say enough nice things about Tim,” Lindus added.

Thomas Beard, also of Freeland, was a friend of Keil’s for
about 20 years. He described him as a father, a grandfather, a friend
and, to some, a mentor. When he asked how you were doing, he really
wanted to know, Beard said.

“He was a caring, gentle soul,” he said.

The other driver in the crash was Michelle Nichols of
Clinton. She was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle from
the accident scene. She was in intensive care Sunday and her condition
has since been downgraded from “serious” to “satisfactory,” a hospital
spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday.

According to the Washington State Patrol, the accident
happened at 8:40 p.m. Nichols, 46, was southbound on Highway 525 in a
white 1988 Ford Van and had just passed Coles Road when her vehicle
collided with the guardrail on the right side of the state route. The
van then crossed the centerline and stuck a northbound vehicle, a silver
1993 Honda Accord, driven by Keil.

Keil, 61, died at the scene. His next of kin were notified by a state trooper and the Island County coroner, a press memo said.

According to the release, the cause of the crash was
crossing the centerline; alcohol is believed to have been involved, and
Nichols is under investigation for vehicular homicide, the memo said.

“At the time of the accident there was an odor of
alcohol,” said Trooper Mark Francis, spokesman for the Washington State
Patrol in a follow-up interview.

He added that police obtained a search warrant to take
blood samples to determine her blood/alcohol content level. The results
won’t be determined for several weeks, but she was arrested on suspicion
of vehicular homicide that night, he said.

Nichols is a family woman with several children, and is a
longtime bus driver for the South Whidbey School District, according to
her Facebook page.

The affected section of the highway was closed at Craw and
Maxwelton roads. An emergency landing zone was set up on the highway
and an air ambulance landed and picked up Nichols. The scene was
processed by Highway Patrol accident technicians, police said.

One hundred years ago today, Vashon Island's own Betty MacDonald was born. The author of The Egg & I, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and many other books, MacDonald garnered a worldwide following and still has millions of fans today.

Why do I care? Number one, if you can't celebrate your local heroes, what the F can you do? Number two, my grandfather Don Woodfin
had a chicken farm in Lisabeula (an area on Vashon) in the 1940s and
'50s, and was a good friend of Betty and her family. He built them a
barn,
chicken coup, and caretaker house, all of which are now recognized
National Historical Landmarks. Don was immortalized as "the
unforgettable Marine" in Betty's book Onions in the Stew,
her story of life on Vashon. After 9/11, many members of the
international Betty MacDonald Fan Club e-mailed me to offer their best
wishes and let us know that they were thinking of us, all because he had
built her barn. It was really nice.

With charm, humor, and deep understanding, a Japanese American woman
tells how it was to grow up on Seattle's waterfront in the 1930s and to
be subjected to "relocation" dring World War II. Along with some
120,000 other persons of Japanese ancestry-77,000 of whom were U.S.
citizens-she and her family were uprooted from their home and imprisoned
in a camp.

In this book, first published in 1953, she provides a unique
personal account of these experiences.

"Monica Sone's account of life in the relocation camps is both fair
and unsparing. It is also deeply touching, and occasionally
hilarious."-New York Herald Tribune

"The deepest impression that this unaffected, honest little story made on me was of smiling courage."-San Francisco Chronicle

I was rereading your book Nisei Daughter and I have to tell you that
I agree with your many international fans. I wished I could read many
more books written by great author and unique personality Monica Sone.

I also agree with the New York Herald Tribune review of Nisei
Daughter: Monica Sone's account of life in the relocation camps is both
fair and unsparing. It is also deeply touching, and occasionally
hilarious.

Yes, that's it! Deeply touching, also occassionally hilarious! When
I'm reading your great book ( Nisei Daughter belong to the VERY few
books I'm reading over and over again ) I'm really deeply touched. I'm
with you and your great family. I adore your outstanding book and even
much more I adore your unique personality. You are a genius but very
human and warm with a deep understanding and a golden heart.

The first time I heard your very warm voice I was lost. To me it's
the most beautiful voice in the whole world. Voice and personality fit
together in just a perfect way.

Thanks a million for your friendship.

Although we are far away you and your family are always in our thoughts.

Monday, July 27, 2015

i'm rereading the outstanding book Nisei Daughter by late Monica Sone, described as Kimi in Betty MacDonald's The Plague and I.To
me it's quiete a shock to learn the depressing facts of internment of
Japanese, Japanese Americans, European and European Americans in a
democratic society.

Over 31.000 people were kept interned until July 1948 - more than three years after the war in Europe had ended.

Betty
MacDonald Fan Club founder, author, poet and Monica Sone's very good friend
Wolfgang Hampel told us that Nisei Daughter belonged to the very few
books he was rereading.

I know many of us do the very same.

Betty MacDonald encouraged her friend Monica Sone in publishing her book 'Nisei Daughter'.

Betty
MacDonald said:

'Nisei Daughter ' is a very remarkable book, humorous
and delightfully readable, that takes you into the heart of a
Japanese-American family and into the mind of the sensitive, perceptive
eldest daughter.The internment of the American born Japanese during
World War II is handled with honesty and rare dispassion. It is
certainly to Monica Sone's credit that she she still sings God bless
America. Betty MacDonald was right. Having Monica Sone's experiences I'm not sure I would.

I
agree with John Heitman "In a world where there are lots of smoke
screens and J. Edgar Hoovers, an individual can really be hurt."

It's true: Raccoons are really very shameless when they are
looking for food.

I'm rereading Onions in the Stew right now.

I
have to laugh aloud when Betty MacDonald, her husband Donald Chauncey
MacDonald and daughters Anne and Joan have their experiences with
racoons and many other guests at Dolphin Point on Vashon Island.

Wolfgang Hampel and Betty MacDonald fan club research team are working on new Betty MacDonald fan club items.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

If you read these brilliant stories as a child, you should
re-read them now; so much of the humor is pitched at grown-ups
–marriage, friendship, theories of child-rearing.

After I’d re-read Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle for the fiftieth time, I decided to try Betty MacDonald’s adult work. In her memoir, Onions in the Stew, she remarked, “Going
down to the beach after a storm is the only time in my adult life when I
experience that wonderful, joyous, childhood feeling of expectancy.”

This observation struck me, because I’ve noticed that I too rarely
experience a “sense of expectancy.” The fact is, I don’t have a very
joyful spirit. I rarely look forward even to fun events or activities.
Also, I dislike errands, logistical details, or any kind of hassle, and
even when those hurdles are fairly minor, they can overshadow my sense
of anticipation.

But to go through the days and weeks and months of life, looking forward to nothing, struck me as a sour way to live. One of my aims for my happiness project, therefore, has been to boost
my feelings of pleasant expectancy. First, I’ve made a real effort to
add items to my schedule that I actually anticipate, to make time for
activities that I really enjoy – to go to a bookstore (one of my
favorite things to do) or on a smell adventure with a friend (which I’m
doing today).

Thinking along the same lines, a friend told me, “I looked at my
seven-year-old nephew’s weekly schedule, and he had all sorts of fun
activities, with art, music, baseball, library. I thought, I like to do
those things, too! I wish my schedule had art, music, baseball, and library. Now I make a big effort to do more fun things.”

At the same time, I’ve also pushed myself to revel in anticipation,
to devote mental energy and time to looking forward to activities I
enjoy. In what’s known as “rosy prospection,”
anticipation of an event is sometimes greater than the happiness
actually experienced. All the more reason to revel in anticipation.

I’ve found that I can often re-frame activities to help myself
anticipate them more. Do I view decorating the apartment for Halloween
as a chore or as a pleasure? Do I think it’s tiresome or fun to shop for
school supplies? I’ve been surprised by how readily I can steer my
attitude.

One of my rules of happiness is that to eke out the most happiness from an experience, I must anticipate it, savor it as it unfolds, express happiness, and recall a happy memory. By making an effort mindfully to look forward to pleasant experiences, I deepen my experience of happiness.

How about you? Are you a person who often feels happy anticipation?
Or, like me, do you find that you have to work to have a “childhood
feeling of expectancy”? How do you help yourself to do that?

Linde Lund:

I guess I have this feeling because we have so many children in our family.

My sisters and I are huge Betty MacDonald fans and so are our children.

Like Betty MacDonald we are writing funny stories and everybody in the family has a role in the play.

Author Karel Capek wrote: Childhood is so exciting because we are sailing away
every day to find new treasures.

That's it. You can find new treasures
every day.

Life is so exciting. Let's sail away like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggles pirate husband to find new treasures.

I
have a Betty MacDonald fan club blog.

It began in 1983 when author
Wolfgang Hampel founded Betty MacDonald fan club with 4 members.

We
have members in 40 countries now.

As I'm in contact with so many Betty MacDonald fans from 5 continents Life is exciting every day.

You might think: Is Anja foolish? You can't compare Prater in Vienna
with Vashon Island in Washington State.

Believe me, you can! Even
here you can see racoons. They are really very shameless when they are
looking for food.

Can you remember?

Betty MacDonald, her husband Donald Chauncey
MacDonald and daughters Anne and Joan had their funny moments (sometimes) with racoons at Dolphin Point on Vashon Island.

Many readers asked us a question: Who translated Letizia Mancino's THE SECOND PARADISE in english language? It's excellent. Betty
MacDonald Fan Club Honor Member Letiza Mancino told us it had been
translated by Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mary Holmes.

Betty MacDonald - and Hilde Domin Fan Club are very grateful.

Dear Mary Holmes, thank you so much for doing this.
Both, Letizia Mancino and Mary Holmes have crystal-clear thoughts like a mountain spring.
Letiza and Mary, we love you.

That
was how my friend Hilde Domin was, dear Betty! You would have liked her
so much. She had also been in America. At that time you were a famous
author but she was still unknown.

-Did she love cats like you do?

-Yes Betty, she sure did!! Otherwise how do you think she could have been a friend of mine?

-Oh Letizia, don’t boast! Hilde was famous!

-It’s all the same to me, Betty, whether a person is famous or not but that person must love animals

-Why was she as defiant as a cock?

-Well Betty, she was simply so!

-Like a pregnant woman in my “Egg and I”?

-No not so! Betty, Hilde was a whole farm!

- A farm, how was that?

- No Betty, Hilde was more! Almost a zoo! Even more. She was all the animals in the world!

-You loved her very much.

-As I love all animals. You Betty, if I had known you, I would have loved you exactly so because you loved animals.

-But as defiant as a cock from my Bob-farm!

-Yes
and no! (Hilde really loved this double form of answer). Listen Betty ,
I’ll tell you a story about how Hilde was. You would certainly have
loved her. I’ll call my story “The Second Paradise”.

THE SECOND PARADISE

Copyright 2011/2015 by Letizia Mancinotranslated by Mary Holmes

All rights reserved

The Lord God, one day, met Adam in Paradise and saw him lying under a palm.

And God spoke to him: Adam, my son, are you happy, are you content with Paradise ?

Adam answered: Oh Lord, it is wonderful!

And God said: But I will create a second Paradise and give you a wife.

Adam answered: Oh Lord, that is wonderful!

And God said: I will create the wife according to your wishes.

And Adam stood under the palm and thought hard.

And God said: Adam, are you ready?

Adam
answered: My wife should be as lively as a bird but she should not fly.
She should swim like a goldfish but not be a fish….. She should be as
playful as a cat but not catch mice….. She should be as busy as an ant
but not so small.

And God said: So shall she be: Like a bird, a goldfish, a cat, an ant…

Adam answered: Oh Lord, that is wonderful, but she should be as faithful as a dog.

And God asked: Adam, have you finished?

Oh Lord, cried Adam. She should also be as delightful and gentle as a lamb and as defiant as a cock!

….She should be as curious as a monkey and as pampered as a lapdog.

And God said: So shall she be.

And Adam said: My wife should be as courageous as a lion and as headstrong as a goat…

And
God said: So, like a bird, a goldfish, a cat, an ant, a dog, a lamb, a
cock, a monkey, a lapdog, a lion, a goat… and slowly and surely he
wished to begin creating…

But Adam stretched himself under the palm and called:

Lord, Lord, she should be as adaptable as a chameleon but not creep on four feet.

She should have sparkling eyes like, like… real diamonds. She should be as fiery as a volcano

But … she should have crystal-clear thoughts like a mountain spring.

God, the Almighty, was speechless…

And Adam spoke: Also she should be as quick as lightening…

And God said: Man, have you finished????

No, said Adam! She should be as strong as a horse, as long living as an elephant but as light as a butterfly!

William Cumming became Betty's assistant.His regular salary was $25 per month. William Cumming described Betty MacDonald's personality:Betty
MacDonald's humor wasn't kindly, nor homey, nor friendly. It had the
malicious edge of a scalpel, and it could cut. Betty MacDonald saw the
flaws of the race as vicious. The fact that these flaws generally
ended in hilarious pratfalls didn't make them any less lethal in her
eyes" (Sketchbook: A Memoir of the 1930s and the Northwest School) In
1942 William Cumming entered Firland Sanatorium with tuberculosis.
Betty MacDonald, who had served her own time in Firland (The Plague and
I), drove him there. William Cumming was a very good friend of
Wolfgang Hampel, Betty MacDonald Memorial Award Winner and author of Betty MacDonald biography.

Wolfgang Hampel's stories and satirical poems will be published in several languages for his many fans from all over the world. You'll be able to find all these very interesting info in Betty MacDonald fan club newsletter August. William Cumming's outstanding artwork, letters and documents are included in the Betty MacDonald Fan
Club Memorial Collection in Switzerland and Scandinavia.William Cumming died of congestive heart failure on the morning of November 22, 2010. He was 93 years old.

Thanks a million!
We are going to publish some new Betty MacDonald fan club interviews by Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel who is working on an updated Betty MacDonald biography. Good luck dear Wolfgang Hampel!
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is a great guy even if he is a bit strange.
My British friends would say he's a bit eccentric but that's like Onions in the Stew, don't you think.
Do I agree with Betty MacDonald's description of women and men? Oh yes I do!

Betty MacDonald was such a very intelligent lady and she knew very well what she was writing about.
If we believe that Mr. Tigerli acts a bit strange what can we say of the behaviour of some men?
Betty wrote the truth! By the way I don't hate men! I love them - some of them - especially mine!
My family and friends adore Traci Tyne Hilton's books very much.
We are very happy that she is our new Betty MacDonald fan club honor member.
Betty MacDonald fan club fans from all over the world like Linde Lund's interview with Traci Tyne Hilton very much.
Have a great Saturday,

My
mom gave me her copy of The Egg and I when I was about 11. It was my
first taste of Betty Macdonald, but I was definitely hooked! I read it
at least once a year until I was in my twenties and finally got around
to finding the rest of her work at my library...and then collecting
reprints.

What do you like most in Betty MacDonald's books?

I love her over the top humor paired with her brutally honest representation of life.

Is there anything you dislike in Betty MacDonald's books?

One
could call her portrayal of the Native Americans of the Pacific
Northwest in the Egg and I racist, but she was a woman of her time, and
the things she writes about, such as alcoholism, are not untrue. They
are just reported with that brutal honesty that she also uses for her
white neighbors--no one is safe from her sharp pen. So, it makes me a
little uncomfortable to read, but at the same time, I think it is real
(from her perspective at least, and her perspective is valid,) and I
don't dislike it, if that makes sense.

Oh yes! I wish I had had them as kids, but I have been reading them to my
kids which is even better! My sister in law bought me Nancy and Plum
several years back, and I love it. I don't know why it's not a classic
on par with the Secret Garden or the Little Princess! But...even better
than Nancy and Plum are the Piggle Wiggle books. They crack my kids up,
and were the first chapter books that my girls really devoured. They
crack me up, too!

What is your favourite book by Betty MacDonald?

It
is still The Egg and I. It's a book that formed so much of my opinion
on fiction and held such an important part of my growing up--I don't
think anything could beat it. My husband and I call snobby activities
"The Theatah and the Dahnce" and I've been known to say "I itch, so I
scratch, so what?"

Did Betty MacDonald influence you as author?

Absolutely. Though I write mysteries I want them to be funny, and I hold Betty MacDonald's work up as a standard for humor.

What do you think is the reason Betty MacDonald is beloved all over the world?

Betty's
work gives us a glimpse into a world that we would have never known
without her. Both life in the Olympic Mountains and on Vashon are so
different from regular town and city life. I think readers love to
escape, and the more remote the location, the more different the people
we get to meet, the more we love the work! Betty's books help us all
escape to a time that is getting farther and farther away, and a place
that doesn't even exist anymore, but even when it did, it was
unexpected, hilarious, and stunningly beautiful.

Dearest Traci I hope I don't bore with so many questions.
I
wasn't a bit bored! Betty MacDonald is definitely my favorite author
and I loved having a chance to talk about her work and why I love it so
much!

As I already mentioned there are several Betty MacDonald fan club fans who enjoy your books very much.

That
people who love Betty MacDonald also like my books is almost
unbelievable to me, and really is a dream come true, as an author. When I
was a young girl, curled up with her work, escaping to that remote egg
farm, I never dreamed that someday people who loved her, would also
enjoy what I had to say.

Dearest Traci thanks a million for this wonderful interview.
Lots of love to you and your family.

About Me

Betty MacDonald Fan Club, founded by Wolfgang Hampel, has members in 40 countries.
Wolfgang Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald biography interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and friends. His Interviews have been published on CD and DVD by Betty MacDonald Fan Club. If you are interested in the Betty MacDonald Biography or the Betty MacDonald Interviews send us a mail, please.
Several original Interviews with Betty MacDonald are available.
We are also organizing international Betty MacDonald Fan Club Events for example, Betty MacDonald Fan Club Eurovision Song Contest Meetings in Oslo and Düsseldorf, Royal Wedding Betty MacDonald Fan Club Event in Stockholm and Betty MacDonald Fan Club Fifa Worldcup Conferences in South Africa and Germany.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honour Members are Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter and described as Kimi in Betty MacDonald's The Plague and I, Betty MacDonald's nephew, artist and writer Darsie Beck, Betty MacDonald fans and beloved authors and artists Gwen Grant, Letizia Mancino, Perry Woodfin, Traci Tyne Hilton, Tatjana Geßler, music producer Bernd Kunze, musician Thomas Bödigheimer, translater Mary Holmes and Mr. Tigerli.